


Things We'll Never Say

by AVECYUNO



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:34:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25818916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AVECYUNO/pseuds/AVECYUNO
Summary: The unwanted complication of four lives in the same apartment complex as they live their lives through daily mischief and late night walks. When feelings and strangers-turned-acquaintances get involved, the walls become thinner and the secrets linger at the edge of someone’s — anyone’s — lips.Breaking down emotional barriers and building them up again seem inevitable, but it depends on how the resolve would come along.After all, the apartment and its neighbours were all you’ve ever known.
Relationships: Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Nakamoto Yuta, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Reader, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Reader, Mark Lee (NCT)/Reader, Suh Youngho | Johnny/Reader
Kudos: 27





	1. The Walls Are Thin

_You were wondering how this had all came to be_ _—_ _your friends getting tangled with each other and your life in shambles. Outsiders interfering and people coming and going, making your head ache with thoughts of what could’ve been._

Mark sits on the benches made for soccer games, watching his two friends maneuver the ball on the field like pros. In his eyes, they were, in a way, particularly because Mark sucked balls at playing any kind of sport. 

“Hey- hey!” Mark scrambles to blow the whistle, his giggles coming out in short little whines instead due to the whistle still nestled in between his lips. His finger is pointed toward the longer-haired boy, with blonde strands sticking to his skin due to the sweat.

The soccer captain, Yuta, could only make a face at the boy standing at the bleachers, face contorting into a mixture of confusion and glee.

“Mark, he didn’t do anything wr-” Jaehyun shouts back to the boy, defending his only opponent in the friendly match, but not before getting cut off by the captain. Yuta rolls his eyes with a smile and nudges Jaehyun, nodding toward the younger boy.

“Let him have it, he always dulls down whenever we tell him it’s a fake foul.”

Yuta passes the ball to Jaehyun by foot, who starts out the game in the middle of the field. They fight over it for a while before the latter gains speed toward his own goal, with Mark cheering for both sides because he’s too confused to care about who wins. The longer-haired boy catches up to Jaehyun in a few strides, cutting in with his right foot. Yuta had done this a thousand times, where the grass of the playing field is harsh against his ankles and he’s ready to break fall with his left arm.

Jaehyun is faster with his reply as he traps the ball between both his feet, leaping off skillfully that garnered an adoring “Wow~” from the boy on the bleachers. Landing a little after Yuta’s leg, he went on to score into the net as the other scrambled to block the potential goal.

“Jesus Christ, again?” Yuta groaned, looking at the lonely ball in the net that could’ve been his. Jaehyun celebrated on his own, doing his little dance around the soccer captain while Mark runs with his whiteboard to mark down the scores for his friends. 

“You’re going to have to buck up, Soccer Captain-chan,” Jaehyun mocked jokingly, carrying on the inside joke the both of them always indulged in. The marker stains on Mark’s whiteboard had stayed over the years from when Mark noted down scores between the two for basketball, soccer, or even random dance battles proposed by the younger male. They’ve been playing for years now, having lived so close to each for so long. Occasionally, you’d come down to check out what the boys were playing in the run-down court—joining Jaehyun to shoot hoops while Yuta rested, or try a free kick into the net while Jaehyun acted as the goalkeeper; you’d sit out mostly though, accompanying Mark and seeing his surprised face when you finally lay out the rules in the easiest way you can.

You weren’t there, however, at the moment, having had classes earlier than the boys. They had offered to bike with you to school, having their fun and taking their time to latch their bicycles while you rushed through the halls to get into your homeroom.

Cringing when you heard the same girls squeal over Yuta from behind you, you noticed their heads were in their hands as they looked on into the field where Yuta had just scored a goal. The man in question lifted his shirt to wipe his sweat, not sparing a glance to the girls who started to wave to him. It prompted you to roll your eyes, only scoffing at your neighbour while you noted down some important things for an upcoming test.

_He always does this, can’t he just bring a towel next time?_

_Ding._ He probably read your mind and saw your annoyed face.

 **_[Notification from Takoyuta]:_ ** _No I cannot bring a towel, you know how much I don’t like a wet, sweaty towel inside my bag._

You didn’t bother to reply, having given him the finger once you wrote the last word on the whiteboard. 

**_[Notification from Takoyuta]:_** _Ok rude._

The cafeteria was chaotic. Where both genders could meet each other for a pathetic forty-five minutes, it was all the cafeteria was when lunch commenced. The boys mingled with the girls, while some sat on the tables and others opted to catch their break outside on the bleachers.

The school thought that it would be better for both the genders to be separated from each other, with the boys and girls in their respective classes to ‘avoid distraction’. Unfortunately, this meant that you couldn’t see the guys for most of your day but at least at the end of it thus making you absolutely dread classes. Unlike the guys, you weren’t the most attentive but still tried to keep awake and put in just the minimum amount of effort. Anyway, you’d still be able to get the guy’s help with their outstanding grades that would simply put yours to shame.

Yuta groaned loudly while holding onto the off-button on his phone, “She left me on read! Can you believe her?!” Mark was tossing the soccer ball around playfully while Jaehyun was on his toes, searching for the window to your class. The girls waving from the windows eagerly squealing Yuta’s name were getting increasingly annoying, even for some narcissist like him.

“I can’t find it,” Jaehyun sighed. “Find what?” Mark asked while patting the dust off his blazer he got while sitting on the bleachers. Jaehyun had given up looking for your class, plus the girls blocking the view were just getting irritating. Yuta, the king of attention, had also surprisingly gotten sick of it.

“Let’s head to class. It’s almost starting anyway,” Yuta scoffed while lazily throwing on his blazer and fixing his collar. The halls were eerily quiet for 5 minutes before class started. On the third floor where all their classes were located, quiet murmuring filled the air. All the hallway windows were open and the three of them could see the amount of students peering out into the hallway curiously.

Jaehyun was in a separate class from Yuta and Mark who were in 4-3 while he was in 4-2. Jaehyun was never sad that he didn’t exactly have any super close friends in his class – he just looked forward to seeing you after it. He waved a subtle goodbye to Yuta and Mark who shuffled quickly into their respective class. As soon as Jaehyun stepped into the classroom, his seat partner’s head shot up from the back.

“Come here! Come here! Quickly!” Jungwoo whispered aggressively to him while tapping on the edge of his desk in a frenzy.

“What is it?!” Jaehyun said while settling down quietly beside Jungwoo in his seat. He pointed outside the hallway window and muttered, “New tall guy.”

Jaehyun took a quick glance since his seat was right beside the hallway window. Doyoung, who sat in front of Jungwoo, turned around with his head at the edge of Jungwoo’s table. He whined, “Ugh. I have to sit with him. I’m the only one with an empty table beside me…” 

“Ha! And you’re gonna have to deal with it too Mr. Class Representative~” Jungwoo teased Jaehyun since it meant that he had to use his lunch periods to show the new guy around the school, not that there was much to be seen anyway but Jaehyun’s lunch periods meant a lot to him.

The male had entered into the classroom with small steps, seemingly taking in everything from the school and its classroom. Once he looked sure of himself, his steps widened to the teachers table situated at the centre of the room.

“Mad, absolutely mad, he is way too tall,” Jaehyun muttered under his breath, eyes trailing from his head all the way down to his feet. Waiting for the teacher to finish some administrative stuff, his eyes scanned over the class, eyes landing on the obvious empty seat next to Doyoung.

“This is Seo Youngho,” he interrupts with a subtle cough, mixing in his English name ‘Johnny’ before side-eyeing the teacher, “from Chicago, he just transferred here a few days ago. Youngho, or Johnny, as he likes to call himself, will take the seat next to Doyoung. Jaehyun, if you would be so kind as a class representative, I’d like for you to show the new guy around.” Gesturing to ‘Johnny’, he went ahead to take the empty seat in front of Jaehyun. 

Doyoung immediately perks up at the unfamiliar company, smacking Johnny on the arm. He takes the leap to introduce himself to the American kid, who’s staring at the board in confusion.

“Hallo, I Doyoung.” The boy says confidently in the best broken english he could muster with his hand on his heart to emphasise his sincerity. He wasn’t expecting the other’s reply one single bit.

“Hey, I’m Johnny… or Youngho,” He says in fluent Korean, catching the other three boys off guard. Two; Jungwoo already had his head on the table when the teacher started the class right after Johnny’s introduction. It was all he did, except to text Donghyuck from the neighbouring class under the table. Jaehyun couldn’t count the amount of times he’d been bribed by the sleeping boy to not be reported to the discipline master.

Jaehyun scoffed under his breath at Johnny's silky voice, seemingly annoyed by both his height and the way he spoke. He couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it was other than those two reasons, he just knew that several words were already out of his sight due to the giant in front of him. 

With the minute hand aching to reach the 12 on the clock, so was Jaehyun hoping to sneak out of the classroom without the teacher nor Johnny noticing. The boy already had enough things to be worried about: earning the captain position on the team, wondering what to eat for lunch and maybe even asking Y/N out for a basketball session after school.

 _Probably just the first one._ Jaehyun thought to himself, already preparing his things so he could rush out of the class before any of them saw him. Freezing in place, the teacher’s voice reached where Jaehyun was standing, where one foot was already out of the class and his shoulders tense from the errand he was tasked with. 

“Jaehyun, did you already forget that you were supposed to help Johnny around the school?” He let out a sigh upon hearing the name, inching back into the classroom while his classmates snickered at his class representative duties. 

“No, sir, I did not.” The teacher nods, walking off from his table and leaving Johnny in his hands. “Wait for me, I’ll send them off and let them know about the tour first-”

Johnny cuts in with his perfectly sculpted face and smooth voice, annoying the hell out of Jaehyun to an all time high, “it’s- it’s okay Jae, honestly—let’s just skip the tour and go for lunch, I’m starving, man.” He grins and gives the other a slap on the back, leaving the classroom and chatting Jungwoo up who was currently rubbing his eyes.

 _Jae? Really?_ Jaehyun shook his head at that, making sure the lights and fans were off before closing the door to the classroom. 

In 4-3, Mark and Yuta were greeted with violent shushing from many of their classmates as they slid open the front door. They glued back their eyes to the view outside the hallway windows. Donghyuck from the first row who was Mark’s seat partner hurried him to sit down quickly so he could tell Mark what was going on. Yuta didn’t have a seat partner since they had an odd amount of people in their class. 

Taeyong who sat in front of Yuta turned around swiftly.

“Hey there, Cap!” Taeyong whispered eagerly.

 _Annoying_ , Yuta thought. He never talked with any of the other guys in the class except Mark but he sat all the way at the front while Yuta was seated right at the back without a partner. Besides, he had no choice but be forced to listen to Taeyong since he really didn’t have the power to make him turn back around. He could but it’d cause quite a scene. _It’s too early for a fight._ The boy wasn’t too much of a morning person.

“Ha, can you believe this guy!?” Taeyong pointed to the empty seat beside him, “Taeil’s already missing the first day of the semester.” Taeyong tried very hard to make the minimal small talk with his new captain to get on his good side but to Yuta, he was doing the exact opposite.

Yuta dug his head into his arms again. This did not stop Taeyong from updating him on the “situation” in the classroom.

“New kid! I heard his Korean isn’t that fluent either. 4-2 got an American guy! Our kid is apparently Chinese. Good luck to Hyuck when showing him around the school!” he whispered.

Yuta still didn’t lift his head but he was now very curious. He was the only non-Korean student in their class. It would feel nice to not be the only one. 

“Well, guess you’re sitting beside him.” Taeyong was right. Yuta had sat alone for his entire high school life and finally in his last year, he’s getting a partner he barely knows. He didn’t really plan on making friends. Graduating and hopefully making it into a sports university was all he aimed for. He didn’t have an eye on one but he knew he was already being scouted for his soccer abilities at all the games he’d won.

Yuta slowly lifted his head to peak outside of the windows. He couldn’t see much but the back of his head. _Kinda tall,_ he thought, _probably not taller than me._

Their teacher sauntered in alone and only realised when the new student she was supposed to introduce idled outside. She gestured for him to scurry in quickly so class could move on and slowly started to lose her patience. Mark turned around to face Yuta quickly since he had gotten a text from Jaehyun about… _something._ Yuta couldn't make it out but he could care less. He had his eyes fixed out the door.

The new student shuffled into the classroom while looking at his feet. _Still not taller than me._ He was 176cm and was taller than Mark but definitely not taller than Jaehyun with his ridiculous height of 180cm. 

“Class, today we’ll have a new student joining us for the rest of the year. This is Sicheng from China,” He fixed his posture and bowed promptly, “You can sit at the back with Yuta.”

The class murmured knowing Yuta as the quote “intimidating” guy. Yuta ignored it but Mark always found those comments and labels of Yuta to be the polar opposite of what he really was; loud and a big baby craving for attention. Sicheng went over to his desk hesitantly since Yuta did look quite… reserved.

Sicheng pulled out the chair beside him, trying to make minimal noise on the floor to attract any more attention than he was already getting. Yuta sensed Sicheng’s uncomfortableness with all the heads turned to him.

Yuta boomed, “What are you looking at?” his voice echoed through the classroom and into the hallways since that was the only noise being made in the entire level on this special day. Sicheng muttered under his breath, “Thanks...” and bowed slightly. 

“No worries. I’m…” It was then Yuta realised he never actually introduced himself properly to anyone in the class before. It just felt different this time, it felt necessary, “Nakamoto Yuta.”


	2. They've Never Talked Like That Before

“You want to… show him around?” his teacher spoke hesitantly, surprised by his sudden abnormal generosity. The annoyed Donghyuck stood beside their teacher while eyeing Yuta up and down in an attempt of a menacing stare that looked more sour than he intended after he offered to take his responsibility as class representative.

“That’s my jo-” “but I mean.. whatever is comfortable with Sicheng right?” Yuta interrupted Donghyuck’s argument. Somehow, Sicheng was the most tense standing between the two, who kept throwing in arguments why they would be a much better fit for the simple task..

“You _want_ to show him around the school?” their teacher asked again, still in utter confusion by Yuta’s sudden kindness that had been missing for three years. 

“ _ You  _ want to show  _ him _ around the  _ school? _ ” Even Mark was dumbfounded. Mark nudged Yuta’s side repeatedly. Yuta had never voluntarily done something in the school for anyone. It even took nearly a whole month before Yuta started talking to Mark when he first moved to their neighbourhood.

“Whoever Sicheng is comfortable with then,” she gathered her things from the desk in a large sweep before leaving the room for the students to continue on their own. Yuta towered over Donghyuck, only in the slightest but with still his cold stare, Donghyuck couldn’t help but give up. After all, it was  _ the  _ Nakamoto Yuta. 

_ Maybe his hair is just fluffy.  _ The male thought to himself upon realising the slight height difference between the two of them which in the end, he chose to ignore.

Donghyuck left the room, murmuring the softest curse at yuta since he upheld his position as class representative very much. Mark sighed, “Are you not going to lunch with (Y/N), Jaehyun and I then?” “Maybe later,” he playfully kicked Mark on his leg so he would leave them alone. 

Yuta stepped out to the hallway first and got a glimpse of Jaehyun heading downstairs with a bothered look on his face.  _ Thought he’d be more excited to see (Y/N) _ , he thought. He then realised what he’d gotten himself into; he was responsible for Sicheng now. Where would he bring him? What is there to know about the school?

“Hey um… I’m starving! We could just go get a bite. There isn’t really anything to see around the school anyway,” Yuta stretched his arms and gave Sicheng a thumbs up who was still standing in the class, avoiding eye contact with the silver haired boy who waited eagerly for him in the hallway. Sicheng shrugged which Yuta took for as a ‘ _ yes’  _ and followed behind Yuta. He was getting a lot of stares from the boys that came from different classes. The stares only got worse when they got to the cafeteria where girls started to flood around the infamous soccer captain only to be taken aback with Sicheng trailing behind him. 

Yuta raised his voice above all the incessant murmuring that surrounded them, “Over there,” he pointed to the corridor that led to an open area, “Hurry.”

“Mark!” Mark bolted toward the table they sat at every lunch break to meet up since the boys and girls couldn’t do so normally. It was the time all of them looked forward to since they could see each other through their day. You would usually be waiting there first since you were the only girl among them. Mark was on his toes, hopping from one foot to the other restlessly while trying to catch his breath.

“Yuta! He...” He was out of breath, while holding onto the seat that he crashed into while running in. He dragged out the chair beside you hurriedly.

“Where’s Yoonoh?” you asked him since Jaehyun would usually be there right after you arrived. 

“Class representative duties. New guy or something. Haha~ sucks,” he rolled his eyes at the dreamy, charismatic, ever so “perfect” Jaehyun. With being adored by teachers, perfect grades and idolized by many girls for being the possibly future basketball captain, Mark wished he could be just like him.

“And you were saying about Yuta?” she leaned in closer to hear his little gossip that he was so frantic on telling.

“There’s this new guy in our class! He’s Chinese I think, and Yu-” Behind them was the squeaks of shoes heavily hitting the concrete floor. Jaehyun’s glum face lit up instantly at the sight of you waving. He scurried towards you, leaving Johnny behind, and stood behind your chair to pat your head. Mark peeked behind Jaehyun in curiosity.

“Woah! He’s super tall…” The shorter boy trailed off, keeping his balance while observing the Chicago kid on his tippy toes.

Mark, just like the other students, marvels at Johnny’s height as he walks towards the table the others are at, just missing Jaehyun’s scowl as your mouth hangs open for the same reason. Once Johnny reaches the table, he already starts to chat Mark up, and turns to you once he’s done introducing himself. Jaehyun lets out a nervous chuckle, covering your eyes as a joke so you wouldn’t be able to see the small wave Johnny had done to you.

The taller male could only shrug at that, turning his attention to the food now situated on the table in front of you. Despite the noisy atmosphere of the cafeteria, the table turned silent and awkward at the elephant in the room. Jaehyun definitely didn’t want to, but none of the other boys they sat with in class hung out in this group of friends. 

Said male lets out a sigh and a forced smile, knowing that Mark was waiting for the ice to be broken, as if he wasn’t obvious enough already. Jaehyun rests one hand on Johnny’s shoulder a little harsher than he’d intended, but the other didn’t seem to mind as the class representative spoke.

“This is Johnny, from Chicago.” 

Johnny shot Jaehyun a look, “I was gonna say that I was from Chicago, man. It’d sound cooler that way.”

“Hi, I’m Johnny, from Chicago. I just transferred over from America.” He stuck out a hand for you to shake, visibly energised from a fresh face that wasn’t Mark’s or Jaehyun’s or Mr Cho’s.

You took the hand generously, a small smile on your face from the introduction. It was hard to admit, Jaehyun wasn’t bad-looking, and Mark was close second, but Johnny made you a little nervous and intimidated with his attractive face and smooth voice.

“Okaaaay then, I’m starving but I don’t wanna start without Yuta…” Mark trailed off with a sigh, looking over the cafeteria for any sign of the male and his new ‘friend’ as he didn’t want to begin snacking with someone missing.

The younger boy hadn’t made sure to look in his line of sight, because when he turned back from searching, Yuta was on his way to the usual table while making small talk with the other new kid from 4-3. His actions had caught everyone off-guard, however, not used to seeing the broody, quiet soccer captain having an actual conversation. Looking around with hooded eyes, Yuta hoped the staring would stop. Thankfully, his aura had the other students scurrying back to what they were doing as Yuta knew the prying eyes had made Sicheng uncomfortable.

Falling back into his usual personality, Yuta held up a hand as greeting, eyes scanning over Johnny for a second before falling onto Jaehyun’s head. The other new kid stood behind Yuta, appearing smaller than he actually is due to the unknown faces staring back at him. Stepping to the side, the soccer captain wrapped an arm around Sicheng, unknowingly making the boy’s anxiety spiral even further as the boys looked to Yuta for an introduction.

“What?” He says, oblivious to yet another awkward situation that followed the one earlier. Mark’s the only one to break the unseen tension with a loud clap that ultimately shocks everyone with its volume, seemingly pairing up with the only person there who was alone at the moment… which was Johnny.

“Let’s eat?” Mark proposed with an uncertainty in his voice, struggling to keep his arm around the taller man’s shoulders before giving up, settling for a jittery hand on Johnny instead. Mark always waited for everyone to be present at the table before eating, no matter how late they were or how early he was, he did not want anyone missing out. Jaehyun pats the seat beside him and pulls it out for Yuta. Yuta then drags the chair between him and Mark by hooking his foot around one of the legs of the chair and gives Sicheng a toothy grin.

Sicheng sat down hesitantly and layed the sandwich in a small plastic bag on his lap while slowly unwrapping it. Jaehyun had some deformed eggs over his bowl of rice that he cooked and packed himself. Hopefully, his sister would be more satisfied with the lunch he packed for her as well. Mark had a yellow lunch box that held none other than his daily snack, watermelon slices. Johnny had a small tin with salad that he prepared earlier that morning in a rush. One bite in and he realised he had forgotten to put dressing in. You just had a small bun of milk bread from the nearby convenience store, it seemed enough.

Jaehyun looked concerned for you. If his food was any good, he’d offer you some. He nudged Yuta and whispered, “What is it today?” Yuta smirked cheekily. His dad’s decoratively packed bentos were the most mouth-watering delicacies to all of them. He placed his prized bento lunch box on the table and took off the lid, “Feast your eyes!”

“Salmon…” Mark gawked at the ornately presented lunch Yuta had but still, he preferred his watermelon over anything else. Jaehyun sighed and eyed over back to you who was drooling over Yuta’s incredible bento box that looked like it was straight out of a ghibli film. Yuta nodded his head to Jaehyun’s gesture and tapped the table, “Hey (Y/N), you sure your bun is enough? I got way too much on my plate here. I have some crab stick maki if you’d like.”

You nodded eagerly and creeped your fingers to reach for the lid of Yuta’s lunch box to use as a plate. Holding it out, he delicately placed three maki rolls on the lid for you. Jaehyun looked back down at his own lunch to hide his faint smile while he picked at his semi-burnt egg. Sicheng’s eyes scanned Yuta’s food longingly and crumpled the half empty bag of his sandwich. You lifted your right shoulder to your chin and wiped your mouth to talk to Johnny, “Chicago? Yoonoh’s from Con… Co- something…” 

“Connecticut,” he groaned as he watched you from across the table engage in deep conversation with the tall, attractive new boy. Johnny looked over past (Y/N) to Mark who was still staring at him and mouthed to him asking  _ ‘Who is Yoonoh?”  _ while Mark faintly pointed to Jaehyun who was trying his best to avoid eye contact with Johnny.

“Oh,” you covered your mouth from being corrected by him, “but why move here? It’s so… boring.”

“My dad wanted to open his shop here. Bringing western stuff here to Korea,” he pulled out jazz hands above his head, “and maybe you could make my stay here less boring…” You giggled at his cheeky comment and nudged him on the shoulder. Jaehyun’s fist tightening and his chopsticks could have snapped at that moment if (Y/N) did not turn to him with the widest grin on her face. ‘ _ She’s just being friendly.. and maybe him too,’ _ he thought.

Sicheng sluggishly bit the corners of his sandwich, the tomatoes almost slipping out the bottom from how he held it. Yuta noticed Sicheng taking quick glances at the mini omelette in his lunch box and he snatched the circular lid of Jaehyun’s lunch box. He dug his chopsticks into the 

centre of the omelette and split it in half, placing one of the halves on the lid for Sicheng. “Uh… you can have half… if you want?” Yuta slid the lid hesitantly to him, not wanting to seem rude for giving the omelette out of the blue.

Sicheng smiled at him while delicately slicing it with his chopsticks. Mark, opposite of Yuta, slammed both his arms onto the table and yelled in confusion, “WHAT?! You’re sharing food now?! You never let me eat any of your food until I learnt how to use chopsticks 6 years after I met you? What is goi-”

“Just eat your watermelon,” she stepped on his shoe underneath the table, making him flinch in his seat. Johnny continued engaging in long conversations about his life in Chicago.  _ ‘Ugh,’  _ it was weird to Jaehyun since she never asked about Connecticut or ever mentioned it to him,  _ ‘I could tell stories like that…’ _

As soon as Johnny’s not-so-little chats with you ended, he abruptly turned to Yuta’s direction and pointed directly at him. Yuta was leaning at the back of his seat, bewildered by the sudden confrontation from Johnny.

“Wait a second,” he snarled, “Yuta… right?”

He nodded hastily, “Y-yeah? And what about it?!”

Johnny put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair, “I heard you’re the soccer captain here. I’d like to try for the team.”

“What? But we’ll be finishing our clubs anyway since it’s our last year. What’s the point of trying out?” “I don’t know, I like soccer.”

Yuta sighed and loosened up. He counted the days in his hands and looked up while mouthing the events and days he had that week. He looked back down to Johnny and put his hand forward, “Look, tomorrow afternoon is the only day this week I don’t have practice and can see your try out. Works for you?”

Jaehyun, Mark, Sicheng and (Y/N)’s head turned slowly to Johnny who pulled out his hand from behind his head to vigorously shake Yuta’s and muttered, “I’ll be there.”


	3. More Than Just Leaves Falling

Mark pressed his whole body against the green fence outside the school field cheering for Yuta, not that the game was a match, just soccer practice - not that Mark would know. The sun had almost set and the sky was a bright orange at five in the evening. Jaehyun was looking at the afternoon sky through the almost leafless tree on the bench while flicking his phone between his fingers impatiently.

He hated wearing his blazer, though it made him look more stunning since it was way too tight around his arms but he had to withstand that discomfort in the freezing weather that autumn. You emerged from the school doors, stumbling down the stairs with your backpack hanging in front of you, half opened. You waved frantically at Yuta in the field who then got distracted by your entrance and lost a point.

Jaehyun adjusted his posture on the bench and perked up. Mark still hadn’t noticed your arrival since he was engrossed in the “game” of soccer going on in the field. You crept behind Mark’s back, turning to shush Jaehyun from telling the other anything. Jumping on his back, he tripped backwards and his hands shot up to grab at yours in panic. Your arms were wrapped around his neck while your legs dangled slightly off the ground. The poor boy had no sense of balance, gripping tightly onto the fence for support.

“(Y/N)!” he yelled, “g-get off!” Not that he wanted you to, but he just wasn’t strong enough to hold any sort of weight other than his own.  _ I wish I was as strong as Jaehyun or Yuta, and then I’d be able to carry her. _

“Mork,” you stuck a fluorescent orange post-it note on Mark’s forehead that had someone’s number on it. He slowly peeled it off and squinted at the paper trying to comprehend what it was.

“Some girl asked me to give you her number. She said she found you cute taking the scores this morning. She initially asked for your number from me but my phone was dead,” you pressed the home button forcefully, showing your pitch black screen before pocketing the device, “I couldn’t remember your number so she just gave me hers to pass to you.”

“Oh…” he kicked the loose dirt on the ground, “that’s cool?”

You punched Mark’s shoulder playfully, “Good for you Mark! Go get her!” Shuffling away to accompany Jaehyun on the bench, you fail to notice the boy’s hesitant answer and his downcast gaze.

“Haha yeah,” he rubbed the place you punched, “Go get her...”

“God, when does he finish?”

“Who knows? Now that he’s captain, he insists they go overtime.” Jaehyun shrugs. 

You groaned and shuddered, looking up at the evening sky, “I hope he finishes soon or I’ll freeze to death right here.” Jaehyun looked over to you shivering, seeing your light pink lips get lighter in the cold autumn weather.

“We can head home first if you wa-” 

“No! I wanna wait for Yuta.. I waited for you guys all day. I’m sure I can wait a bit longer.” You gave Jaehyun a small smile and went back to rubbing your hands on your arms for warmth.

“Here,” Jaehyun reached into his pocket and pulled out a little white packet. He put it between his hands and rubbed them together with all his strength until his dimples started to reveal on his cheeks. He put the packet in his left palm and reached it out in front of you.

A small heat pack.

He grabbed your right hand and placed it in his, intertwining his fingers with the heat pack in between. With his right hand, he reached behind his head to unravel the maroon scarf that bundled his neck. He spun out a lengthy amount and wrapped the excess around your neck. The scarf was around both your shoulders — an excuse to be closer to you.

“Are you still cold?” he wanted to assure if you were alright, if he could do more. You nodded and dug your chin into the scarf and tightened your grip of his hand. Mark was still entranced by the number you had given him. He crumpled and stuffed it into the back pocket of his pants.  _ Not around you, _ he thought.

Mark got tired of watching Yuta yell back and forth at the soccer team and started walking around the perimeter of the field while following the fence, letting his hand drag behind him as he hit every green wire. He got closer to the school gate where he saw many students leaving, in groups or being picked up by their parents in cars.  _ Woah.. that’s cool _ , Mark was intrigued by the glossy black cars — to him they were like limousines. He wished he had a car of his own, thinking it would at least make him seem cooler.

A group of girls came waltzing down the pavement to the school gate, chattering amongst themselves loud enough to get Mark’s attention. One of the girls eyed the soccer field, while the others moved on without her. She told her friends to go on without her while she stood close to the exit of the field.  _ What’s her deal?  _ She bit her lower lip while holding something behind her back. She swayed side to side anxiously, waiting for someone.

Mark shrugged and walked to the nearest bleachers so he could have a sit down. He could get a glimpse of the back of Jaehyun and your heads on the bench, connected with the scarf as if you were one body with two heads. He sighed and scrunched his knees up to his chin, wishing he could take Jaehyun’s place. 

Yuta ran toward Jaehyun and you and gave both of you a thumbs up, signalling he was done with practice. He spun round looking for Mark and saw his little figure sitting cross-legged, half asleep on the bleachers. “MARK!” he yelled with his whole chest from across the field. He jogged closer and ran his fingers through his silver hair which shimmered in the golden evening sunlight. The girl Mark encountered earlier was still there, now more eager than ever.  _ Oh.. She was probably waiting for- _

“Yuta!” she squealed.  _ Yep,  _ he knew it. “Could I talk to you for a second?” Yuta looked annoyed. Sure, he enjoyed the attention but never up close. He snarled and gestured to Mark to get his things packed, crossing his arms straight after and tapping his feet impatiently. The girl now felt more uneasy than before. “U-um… My name is.. Da Eun,” he squinted at her and pursed his lips. “I need to confess something,” she pulled out the box behind her - a box of chocolates, “I like you.” She held it out in front of him quickly, trembling on the spot she was in with the male towering over her. He pulled his hair back and slightly lifted the lid of the box to have a peek of the chocolates. He slipped one out and threw it in his mouth, then closed the box and pushed it back to her.

“I prefer dark chocolate,” he walked away as Mark struggled to keep up with the soccer captain’s long strides. (wow king shit)

“Dude… that was really mean…” Yuta stopped and turned to Mark, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him.

“Sure Mark, I’m mean, but what were those girls expecting anyway? For me to fall head over heels for them right on the spot? I might as well rip the bandaid right off for them; make it quick and painless so they don’t get any funny ideas,” he tapped on Mark’s cheeks.

“I don’t think it was painless for her,” Mark shivered while bundling his scarf more around his neck all the way to his ears. Yuta scoffed at that, the encounter just adding on to the annoyance he had with the harsh weather; he rubbed his hands together for warmth at this. The two of them waited outside the school gate for Jaehyun and you who were still gathering their stuff to leave. While waiting for Yuta, the evening got later and the weather got colder. You didn’t have your scarf or any source of warmth, just Jaehyun’s company.

Jaehyun realised the heat packet had started to cool down, giving no more reason to hold hands. Yet, the more he loosened his grip on your hands the more you tightened. It was cold without him. Jaehyun stood up and placed your hand in the back pocket of his pants. You tried your best to keep up with his large steps but at least you were warm in his company.

Yuta was quick to reach the bunch of chained bicycles that lay static in the freezing weather, wanting nothing more than to get back into the comfort of his home. Mark and Yuta had unchained their bikes from the rack right outside the gate, the latter flinching at the frigid interaction of his hands against the almost-frozen handles.

Mark wiped his seat and pulled his sleeves to cover his hands so that there was at least something between his hands and the icy handles. You laughed at Mark’s sleeves and pulled your hands out of Jaehyun’s back pocket to do the same with your own. Unchaining your bike from the rack, you went ahead and started pedaling off with Yuta. At this, Jaehyun snickered under his breath and slowly did the same.

“Hurry up hyung!” Mark called while waiting for him on his bike at the side. They both caught up with you and Yuta who were having a conversation on what Yuta felt like to be the captain. Mark sped ahead of everyone laughing heartily but suddenly came to a halting stop.

The street was quiet, and the others were far behind him. He carefully dismounted his bike which came crashing on the ground as he ran into the store that caught his eye.

“You’ll totally make it as the captain. No one stands a chance against you Yoonoh!” you cheered while raising a hand up from your left handle. Jaehyun had been going on about how worried he was about not being able to get the spot for the basketball captain. He cracked a smile on his face from your uplifting encouragement.

“I’m sure you’ll get the spot. From what I’ve seen, all the other guys on the team are built like they could snap in half while you’re like... chiseled as  _ hell, _ ” you nodded in agreement to Yuta’s comment. Jaehyun’s body was strangely the most defined, him being the biggest foodie they knew.

Yuta’s bike came to an abrupt stop sideways at the sight of the yellow paint-scraped one on the sidewalk.

“Isn’t that Mark’s?” Jaehyun who was far ahead of the bike put his left foot on the road and dismounted his bike. Yuta leaned his bike onto a nearby lamppost, not bothering to chain it since the town already felt so empty in the evening. You and Jaehyun laid your bikes on the ground over Mark’s. Yuta looked at the shop they found Mark’s bike outside of with a puzzled look on his face.

“Is this shop new?” Yuta hopped eagerly up the stairs that lead to the entrance in a rush to look at the window of the shop. 

“Woah,” Jaehyun muttered under his breath, “music store…” He stood beside you with his mouth agape in awe. The old vinyl store he usually went to closed down since he seemed to be the only customer but still, he went there regularly.

He was quite disappointed for some time and listened to the few vinyls he had and often asked his classmates he barely talked to if he could lend their vinyls. He didn’t have a walkman like most people, including you, which he got for your birthday but he enjoyed the apparent ‘authenticity’ of vinyls compared to cassettes. 

You grabbed Jaehyun by his forearm pulling him up the steps where Yuta stood outside the window display with his hands cupped around his eyes to see inside. Kicking the back of Yuta’s knees, he flinched forward at the action, making you let out a satisfied laugh. 

“Let’s go in. Stop standing outside like a loser.” You shot him a small smile, glad that he followed slowly behind Jaehyun who you were still tugging by his arm. With both arms working on getting Jaehyun into the shop, you opted to push the door open with your right shoulder; the bell above rang with a brief, shrill noise before falling silent.

“Guys!” The younger boy exclaimed excitedly. 

“Mark! Don’t go wandering around without us!” Yuta groaned while squinting his eyes at the black haired male bobbing up and down excitedly in front of the wall covered in guitars hung from their holders. 

“You guys won’t believe who owns the store!” Mark giggled.

“(Y/N)?” a familiar voice shot from across the room.

You all looked forward and there he stood.

“Johnny?!”


	4. An Evening So Pleasant

Jaehyun’s voice lilted in broken syllables at the sight of him for the second time that day, “Johnny?!” He thought he had seen the last of him at that morning’s tragedy of a snack break. Johnny snickered seeing the three of you frozen at the door with mouths slightly agape. 

“Yeah, my dad owns the place.” Jaehyun scoffed at his so-called attempt at “boasting” – as he interpreted it to be, simply annoyed by his presence. “Yeah, we brought some international music that they don’t have here in Korea.” The shop had yellow painted walls and counters lined with vinyls and shelves filled with cassette tapes. Upright pianos had silk covers over them while keyboards sat at the walkway invitingly. Jaehyun was trying his best to contain himself, eyeing the piles on piles of vinyl records that he had yet to dig through.

The walls were covered in guitars hanging from their holders and drumsets were lined up at the front of the store. Johnny leads you and Jaehyun to the rows of vinyls and display shelves of cassette tapes near the counter. With the colourful cassette tapes catching your eyes, they prompted you to bend down to see the tapes you’ve never seen or heard of before; there were titles in English by foreign artists.

Jaehyun instantly recognised many of the artists, picking out the few vinyls on display as he tried to hold back his instinct to grab them in a hurry to purchase. He didn’t want to act like that in front of Johnny, or worse; you. He’s embarrassed himself enough for the day.

Yuta stayed at the entrance impatiently, not having such a great interest in music like the other three did. He peeked outside the glass window and his eyes couldn’t believe who he saw. He uttered quickly, “I’m really tired from uh… practice today! I’ll head home first. Bye!” There was the brief sound of the cold outdoor wind rushing into the store soon after he departed. Mark pouted at his best friend’s swift exit but continued to pluck at the nylon strings of the guitars on the wall.

“You can play it, you know?” Johnny grabbed one of the glossy acoustic guitars by the neck and passed it onto Mark’s awkwardly positioned arms. Mark’s eyes lit up and adjusted his grip on the guitar. Johnny looked around, finding a stool over for Mark to have a seat before leaving to assist you again.

Yuta creeped down the steps to avoid making any sound on the dusty concrete, approaching the boy. Digging into his pocket, he took out a few coins, hovering over each coin as the numbers added up in his head. Yuta lifted his hands over his shoulder and snarled in frustration, not aware of the male behind him.

“Ah!” Sicheng swiftly rotated his entire body and defended himself by covering his face only to see it was Yuta, which honestly felt worse than being mugged to him. He yelped in embarrassment while inching towards the vending machine behind him. “Yuta ge…”

“Ge…?” Yuta mumbled, confused by how Sicheng addressed him.

“Hyung! I mean hyung!” Sicheng quickly bowed, lowering his entire torso making Yuta panic. 

“Woah! Nothing’s wrong with that! It’s… um- cool!” He playfully punched Sicheng’s shoulder who was avoiding eye contact although he was slightly taller than Yuta.

“Whatcha buyin’?” He peeked behind Sicheng to the hot drinks vending machine. After all, it was autumn and nearing 14°C that evening. 

Sicheng stiffly turned back to the machine and counted the coins in his hand while looking at the prices of the machine. He sighed and kicked the foot of the vending machine, frustrated at his insufficient amount of money for a hot cocoa.

“How much do you need?” Yuta dug his hand into the pocket of his blazer and pulled out what he could; a few coins and a crumpled piece of paper. He chuckled nervously and flicked the piece of paper off his hand and stepped on it. 

“N-no! It’s ok… I can get hot cocoa another time,” he stuffed the coins he had out back in his pocket and rubbed his hands together.

“Come on! 100₩? 200₩?” He shaked his hand, making the coins jingle in his palm.

“90₩…” he sighed and hesitantly received the money that Yuta put out for him. 

“Get me one too! Here! 690₩.” Yuta passed him more coins that he inserted in the slot slowly, nervous from the sudden friendliness Yuta displayed. The machine whirred and soon the two drinks clattered at the bottom. Sicheng passed one of the cans to Yuta while holding tightly to his own.

“How do you get home?” “Walk here…” Sicheng pointed down the empty, turning road ahead of them. Yuta grinned and unchained his bike from the pole.

“Cool! I go by there too! I’ll walk with you,” he held his bike by the handles, dragging it with him so he could walk and keep up with Sicheng.

The walk on the way home was quiet and uncomfortable, the taller boy not knowing if he should speak up or let the silence be, especially since Yuta was so unpredictable in his words. The chain of the bicycle was the only thing preventing Sicheng from choking over his spit, while the leaves under their boots created an eerie atmosphere.

“How do you know if I’m older than you anyway?” Yuta tried to catch the eyes of the taller male who constantly had his head down to his feet. Sicheng kicked the bits of gravel flimsily and shrugged.

“My birthday’s pretty late in the year so I just thought-”

“26 October,” Yuta retorted and this made Sicheng stop behind him. Yuta continued smiling cluelessly at Sicheng’s sudden reaction to his birthday.

“Woah.. I’m 28th,” he squeaked which only made Yuta burst into an even wider grin than he already had on. The boy dropped his bike and shook Sicheng by the shoulders eagerly.

“Do you know what this means!? We can cele- we  _ should  _ celebrate together! My place with Jaehyun, Mark and (Y/N) and we throw a HUGE party!” he threw his hands in the air and bounced up and down on his toes.

“I’m not really the party type..”

“Oh come on! Live a little!” Yuta elbowed him in the side.

“I’ll… ask my mom, then..”

“Nice,” he gave Sicheng a big pat on the back which brought them back to walking, “Our place is block 19 just further down this street, across the pharmacy. How about… the 27th? We can make it… Sicheng and Yuta day!” He rang the bell of his bike as he announced lyrically.

Sicheng just nodded in agreement to everything he said, trying to maintain his composure around the cool senior by a day.

Yuta knocked into Sicheng’s side and groaned, “You don’t have to be so formal. I’m literally older by a day. Call me…” he thought for a while since ‘Hyung’ was foreign to Sicheng.

“Yuta Ge!” he rang the bell of his bike again. Sicheng was flustered at the odd name he suggested.

“Really..?” he mumbled while tugging on his bag’s strap across his chest.

“Yeah, sure! It’ll be special~ Maybe it can be an… ‘us’ thing.” 

_ An ‘us’ thing.  _ Sicheng smiled at the thought of it for the first time for Yuta to see clearly which made him shyly grin while covering his mouth with his hand, pretending to cough. Sicheng continued mouthing the name he suggested on the rest of the walk to his house just to get used to it for how long he would use it; a lifetime maybe. It had a ring to it.  _ Yuta Ge.. Yuta Ge..  _ He liked it.

“This is me,” Sicheng stopped at the front of a fairly big house, well, to Yuta that is. It was one floor and had a garden in front which appeared like it was tended to quite frequently. The porch lights were a warm yellow which lit up against the tins of flowers that were lined along the windowsills. Yuta eyed the house through the gate from the front, he didn’t expect Sicheng to live such a “luxurious” life.

“Well, I’ll see ya! Actually…” he dug through the front pocket of his bag and pulled out a thin, black marker. Yuta grabbed Sicheng’s wrist and messily scribbled something, “Call or message me so I can get back to you about the party.” 

As soon as Yuta lifted the pen, he quickly let go of Sicheng’s wrist and looked to the sky. The moon was covered by grey clouds and the evening light slowly started to dim. Yuta didn’t know how to say goodbye, more so that he didn’t really want to. “Yeah, I’ll call you.” Sicheng mumbled and shuffled backwards into his home while waving to Yuta goodbye, bringing an end to their night.

Yuta could see the warmly lit lamp post outside the gate of his house which brought him comfort knowing he was home after his first day back at school. He didn’t remember it feeling so long, so busy. Quietly pushing open the gate with his shoulders and lifting his bike to make less noise, he saw Jaehyun’s room window, above his own, lights off already.  _ He must be tired.. or sad.  _ Jaehyun’s habit of listening to music out loud in the dark rarely ever happened unless he was beyond devastated which it seemed like he was from the faint music he heard coming from above. What was it about? No one knew. He’d seem way too happy the next morning, eyebags as big as his smile – he didn't really have anyone to confide in. 

Yuta creeped over to his front door, his sneakers kicking back the loose dirt on the ground as he leaned his bike against the wall right outside their front door. Greeting his father in the kitchen, the boy pulled off the gloves by biting the ends of his fingers and tossing it on the kitchen counter. He fell back on his bed, making an echoing creaking noise in his tiny room which was then followed by a few knocks on the wall behind him.

“Yuta! You’re back late…” a light, muffled voice spoke. 

“(Y/N)? Why are you still up?”

“I was waiting for you.”

The walls between Yuta and your room were incredibly thin – so thin that you talked through it night after night when you both couldn't sleep and to greet each other every morning. Of course neither of you minded at all. Often they’d joke and talk about Jaehyun and Mark or Yuta complaining about his soccer team or you complaining about school.

“Walking takes longer to get home than biking,” he scrunched his legs to his chin and wrapped his arms around his knees before stretching them out again.

“Sicheng doesn’t bike home?” You inquire.

“Nope.”

It went quiet for a while. For once you did not really have anything to talk about. Yuta could hear you tapping your fingers rapidly on the wall before he heard his phone ding in his pocket. Sicheng had texted him.

**_[Notification from UNKNOWN]:_ ** _ Hello Yuta...Ge. Sorry. It’s Sicheng here. My mom said it’d be alright to celebrate my birthday with you and your friends. Thanks :> _

Yuta let out a small snicker with a growing smile. He quickly replied back while adjusting his posture and properly sitting up. You could hear him brushing against the wall which made you seat up as well.

**_[You]:_ ** _ That’s cool~ _

**_[Notification from UNKNOWN]:_ ** _ See you tomorrow ;> _

**_[You renamed the contact to DONG]_ **

He laughed, remembering that was his surname. He kept repeating it in his mind while kicking his pillow at his feet frantically. He heard you faintly snoring from the other side of the wall and he flipped over so his face would be dug into his pillow.  _ How cute. _


	5. Crossing Lines and Wrapping Presents

The mornings started getting colder the following morning. Fall was almost coming to an end and the trees all looked bare. You and Yuta were biking to school together that morning since Jaehyun was busy with his class representative things that he never spoke off since he found it so boring, which it was, and Mark with... something else. Mark had always headed off to school earlier on some days but none of you questioned it as you all just assumed it was him being diligent. Yuta refused to wear gloves or ear muffs even though it was the coldest in the morning finding that it deprived him of his looks – even with yours on you felt like you were freezing. As always his blouse was lazily put on and his tie slightly undone. His blazer was not even buttoned right with the buttons going in the wrong holes and wearing a scarf that only wrapped around once.

“How are you not cold?!” You just had to ask. He seemed so apathetic to the frigid weather that morning.

“It just isn’t that co–” “You always answer that same thing. I shouldn't have even asked.” You groaned at his off-putting composure and continued to look at the narrowing road in front of the two of you. Yuta would be complaining about having to go to school that early in the morning by now but for some reason, he seemed excited… as if he was looking forward to something. You backed up your bike so he would be in front of you on the tapering road ahead of you so it would be easier to bike.

As soon as both of you exited the road, you caught up to him and retorted, “That was really mean what you did to that girl yesterday.”

“What girl?” you gasped that he didn’t even remember her.

“You..?! You’re so full of yourself. I can’t believe you don't remember. The girl who confessed to you with chocolates yesterday? After your practice?”

“This again?” he sighed, tired of you and Mark’s constant nagging at it.

“Yes, it was really mea-” “I’m not mean.” He huffed and started pedalling faster to ignore any more things you had to say.

“Yes, you were mean to her,” you stood up on the pedals of your bike and pushed heavily with the tips of your shoe to catch up with him.

“I didn’t like her back.”

“You never like anyone back. You’ve never liked anyone! Have you ever even liked anyone like that?” You jokingly scoffed at his apathy. It surely seemed that way since he’s never told you about anyone he had the slightest crush on, and he tells you everything.

He didn’t respond.

“Maybe I’m scared..” he admittedly answered. You suddenly felt bad about saying anything at all. Yuta was scared. He’s so scared of messing up. He wanted to get it right the first time. He wanted the right person.. though he never said it. He hated looking vulnerable, even around you, Mark and Jaehyun. He never liked the girls who sucked up to him because of his looks. He specifically liked you because you called him a mop when you first met him as kids because of his long, messy hair. Obviously, you and Yuta weren’t the best of friends when you were younger but that eventually turned out for the better now that he’s your closest friend.

You didn’t really know what to say to him. You already made the atmosphere so tense and awkward that you even distanced your bike from his slightly. 

“You know, Johnny’s trying out for the soccer team today,” breaking the silence and snickered.

“Oh, really?” “Yeah, he’s probably good too. I’ll let him in anyway.” 

“Why?” 

“Jaehyun needs some.. motivation,” he hummed and came to a halt, making you pause too. You didn’t know what he meant but maybe it was a sports thing you’ll never understand. Yuta looked up at you and smirked.

He scoffed loudly and yelled, “Race you,” before zooming ahead and disappearing around the corner.

“That’s not fair?!” you pedalled faster to keep up with him which didn’t seem like it was happening no matter how fast you were since he was long gone. The nearest building by you which conveniently was the flower store. Perfect. There was the smallest crack at the side of it you could just fit through with your bike. You couldn’t pedal since your knees would scrape the walls of the buildings so you kicked off the floor with your feet to push the bike forward. The side of the handles of your bike kept annoyingly hitting the walls back and forth. Reaching the end, you finally lifted your foot off the ground to prepare you for pedalling once again.

As soon as you emerged from the hidden gap between the buildings, your eyes briefly met Yuta’s whose smirk immediately left at your sudden appearance. The rest of the way to school was on an upwards sloping hill. You could almost hear Yuta cursing behind you but you were too far ahead to make out anything other than he was certainly pissed at you for taking a shortcut.

You laughed arrogantly while ascending quickly on the open road since there were no cars coming in. There were several students making their way up on the sidewalk to the school watching the commotion you and Yuta caused on the road. Yuta was yelling your name or loudly groaning in pain from the treacherous journey up the slope. You could almost see the brick road entrance to the school and Yuta was close to catching up right behind you. 

Making your final press on the pedal with the sole of your worn out sneakers, you swiftly dismounted your bike as the tire reached the brick road which then dropped to the floor, emitting a loud crash and your yell of victory.

“I won!” you gave him an ‘L’ with your fingers and stuck your tongue out teasingly, as if you were both still kids which you felt you were around him. He rolled his eyes, dropping his bike on the ground defeatedly and squatted beside it while stealing your water bottle from your bag.

“Ugh, whatever,” he took a large gulp from your bottle and pulled his tie down from his collar to loosen it even more. 

“You’re such a sore loser,” you snatched your bottle from him and leaned your body against his back while resting your hand on his head. You took a sip from your almost empty bottle and finished it in one go. He stood up and picked both your bikes up by their handles and rolled them over to the bike stand. You picked your bag up from the floor and trailed behind him. At the bike rack, you saw Jaehyun and Mark’s bike with an empty space in between. You parked your bike between theirs and chained it by the front wheel. 

When you stood up, you saw that Jaehyun left his water bottle and lunch box in the front basket of his bike.  _ I should probably go give it to him,  _ you immediately thought. Picking up his lunch box, you opened it and welcomed the aroma of black bean noodles that Jaehyun’s mum made. You brought it over to Yuta whose jaw dropped in awe and gasped, “Wow. Lucky?!” 

“I wish,” you closed it before it got cold, “It’s not mine. It’s Yoonoh’s. He left it in his bike with his bottle.”

“I’ll bring it over to hi-” “No ! Please ~ I haven’t seen Yoonoh or Mark this morning yet… Can I bring it over?” You pleaded. It was still 7.40am and class only began at 8am so you were still able to enter the boys’ side. And you hated starting the day without seeing all three of them first since the next time you’d see them would be at the end of the day or during the morning break if there was any time.

“What?! You have to be in and out of there in 20 minutes!” “Yeah so hurry up and don’t waste time!” you grabbed his wrist and dragged him behind you while rushing to the entrance of the boys’ side of the school. Your entrance immediately caught the attention of the few guys still in the hallways. Sure, girls were allowed to go over but no one ever did unless their brother or boyfriend was there.

You didn’t really care about the stares you received but Yuta certainly did. He glared at any guy who even looked in your direction and stepped towards them intimidatingly behind you. Supposedly that was why you weren’t too scared of going there since Yuta would always look out for you. 

Even going up the stairs, guys from the corridor peeked from around the corridors to see who joined Yuta that morning. Most of the students were already in class anyway. Jaehyun’s class, 3-2, was in between the two classes 3-1 and 3-3 down the hall. This worried Yuta since you had to walk past his class, 3-3 and would get more attention from his classmates than you already had.

“God, hurry up.” “Calm down, I got 10 more minutes~” He was shoving you up the stairs at this point, also to cover you from behind to make sure no one was looking up your skirt from downstairs. Yuta wanted to get whatever morning greeting you insisted on with Jaehyun to be over and done with and he knew you’d also want to say hi to Mark, Sicheng and Johnny too if you could. To his dismay, all the hallway windows to the classrooms were wide open that morning so walking by with you would cause some commotion. He grabbed your wrist and shuffled quickly past 3-3, alerting Mark who then stood up gasping, “(Y/N)?” Sicheng quickly turned his head to the window to see you being lightly tugged by Yuta past the classroom, waving to both Mark and him frantically before disappearing quickly to 3-2. Sicheng slowly rose from his seat and made his way out of the class following Mark. The rest of the class stared in confusion, especially how Sicheng knew you since he had only been in the school for a week.

Coming into view of 3-2, you immediately saw Jaehyun seated at the back of the class by the window, spinning a pencil between his fingers. Johnny hooted from in front him, “Oh my God! (Y/N)!” 

“Woah! Hi Johnny!” you waved and leaned at the edge of the window directly beside Jaehyun.

“Yoonoh~!” He gawked at the name you called him – awkwardly in his class.

“Please don’t call me that here...” he whispered pleadingly. As sweet and endearing he found it that you were the only one that called him that outside of his family, he wasn’t so used to having anyone else say it… or know about it. You giggled at his ears instantly turning red from embarrassment.

“Anyway, you left your basketball stuff in your bike. Oh, and your lunch too,” you squeezed his belongings through the window, “And what?! You sit  _ behind _ Johnny? Can you even see?!”

You heard Johnny and Yuta’s stifled laughter while Jaehyun scoffed and rolled his eyes, “Hey, I’m 180!” 

“Okay and Johnny is…” “I’m 185.”

“Jesus, okay tree,” you huffed. Jaehyun glanced at his watch and noticed you had five minutes to get to class. You pat Jaehyun’s head to give a longing goodbye though you’d see him again later that afternoon like always; at the bench under the same tree. His hair got ruffled easily upon the soft tap from your palm and he gave a little satisfied grin back at you.

Johnny waved as you walked away, slapping Yuta’s back as you walked down the hall where you happened to also meet Mark and Sicheng. You gave them a small wave too and started to briskly make your way back to your class.

Upon reaching your class with just a minute to spare, the rest of your classmates stared at your sudden entrance which had never happened before.  _ Since when were you a sight to look at? _ You could hear some girls scoff as you sat down at your place near the back of the class. You got a text from Yuta.

**_[Notification from Takoyuta]:_ ** _ Sicheng said he could celebrate his birthday with us. 27th… so Friday? _

You smiled while peeking at your phone from under the table. Sicheng…’s birthday.

**_[You]:_ ** _ Sure :) _

**_[Notification from Takoyuta]:_ ** _ Cool. _

You couldn’t see how much more thrilled he was with Sicheng’s attendance to the birthday party… which was for him anyway. Yuta had other concerns too, like Johnny’s try-out for the soccer team later that day. He’ll probably let him in anyway; he’s got the spirit. Jaehyun couldn’t be more annoyed with Johnny’s incessant chatter on his soccer games in his previous team. Of course, he had no choice but to listen since Johnny was turned around in front of him and it’s not like he could just turn around too – funnily enough, the first time Jaehyun’s ever wished someone sat behind him.

He nodded absentmindedly, most of the time keeping his head down and swaying it side to side to make it look like he was at least awake. Honestly, Johnny in the soccer team would be a nightmare.. for Jaehyun. With his quirky charm and loud confidence and to top it all off being on the soccer team, Jaehyun worried his chances with you would only get lower as Johnny became more of an eligible bachelor for you.

The afternoon rolled around and you were seated with Mark and Sicheng in the bleachers while Yuta ran around the empty field, dribbling a ball between his feet. Mark was preoccupied trying to balance and spin a ball on the tip of his finger. Johnny emerged from the school doors with Jaehyun trailing behind him, already annoyed. Johnny began to cheer loudly raising his hands in the air, you and Mark joined in while chanting his name as he sprinted to the field like an excited puppy.

Jaehyun dropped his belongings on the empty space next to you and let out a frustrated groan, seeing his breath in the frigid air.

“You good?” you asked.

“Never better,” he rolled his eyes before walking off to get a drink at a vending machine. He probably shouldn’t have rolled his eyes while talking to you. He put his fist to the side of his head thinking of how he could’ve been so stupid. Jaehyun simply didn’t care about Johnny’s tryout.. or Johnny alone. He had convinced himself that it was Johnny’s incessant charm and silvery voice that annoyed him.  _ Was it jealousy? _ He thought.  _ No, jealous of what?  _ In fact, Jaehyun thought he had everything he had.. or maybe better. 

Jaehyun’s behaviour was off, especially towards you. It wasn’t something you said.. was it? You barely said anything at all.. You just hoped he would come back soon. It was getting colder the later it got and lately you’ve found it to be much warmer around him. 

“Um.. Hot chocolate?” in front of you was a hand holding out a brown can of hot chocolate. Sicheng looked at you intently waiting for you to accept his offer, “Yuta gave me.. three.” He showed you the two other empty cans he had already finished and shook the hand he held out at you.

“Oh, thanks.” You hesitantly obliged. Sicheng’s face tightened in the icy breeze that afternoon with his hair loosely flailing in the wind. He did not seem cold though. His navy coat was sprawled out on the bench right behind them and his scarf only hung around his shoulders. 

You on the other hand, sat stiffly, hands wrapped around your upper arms and your legs one over the other. When you weren’t drinking the hot can of chocolate, you held it up to your cheek on either side hoping for any warmth at all. You heard Sicheng let out the softest snort and didn’t even make an attempt to hide his smile.

“Here,” he was not much of the talker and said little to no words at all but when he did, it felt quite reassuring that he was warming up to you in the slightest. He placed his coat on your lap, which was well beyond your knees if you stood up and wore it. You lifted it to your chin and put your arms through the sleeves at the front, wearing the jacket the wrong way round to act like a blanket. 

Sicheng laughed at you as you huddled up in his coat with your entire body fully consumed by it. 

Yuta carried on showing a few tricks he could do to Johnny with the soccer ball on his left foot and quickly took notice that Sicheng was preoccupied.

“Sicheng! Look!” Yuta lightly kicked the ball up to switch to the other foot, a simple trick for him and he hoped for it to be an impressive one to everyone. Sicheng’s face lit up in astonishment and applauded with his hands raised above his head. Johnny came running in, dribbling the wall between his feet while Mark watched intently from the side. 

Johnny was trying out for goalie, he was already tall and definitely had the spirit for the part. Yuta would let him in anyway since none of the rest of his team would be any good as Johnny clearly was but he thought he’d entertain Johnny just for a little while. To anyone of you, if Johnny couldn’t block any of Yuta’s kicks, it’d be alright but if he could, he is one hell of a goalie.

“Let’s do this!” he yelled, far from everyone but his voice was crystal clear like he was right next to you. Mark’s eyes were on, of course none other than his best friend, Yuta who had the sole of his shoe pressed against the top of the ball, glaring at the net. Johnny moved eagerly, tapping both sides of the goal, his smile wiped from his face to suddenly reveal his serious yet charismatic look.

As the two boys scurried around the field, Jaehyun came back, two canned drinks in hand; one for you and one for him. Before happily skipping towards you to offer a drink, he notices the identical hot chocolate can he was holding in your hands already. Instead, he shuffled towards Mark and nonchalantly handed him the drink to which Mark zealously accepted.

“Ah… so warm~” he held the warm can to his cheeks, “I think my face is frozen.” yet he still managed to give his infectious smile. 

“Yoonoh! Are you okay? You looked mad earlier…” you asked him, full of worry and concern. He let out a feeble laugh and swung his hand playfully, “Oh you know, just a long day at school..” 

It did not seem quite right to you but perhaps it was just the first week of school getting to him.

“So.. your birthday’s coming up! Do you want anything?” Jaehyun wanted to carry the conversation that fell dead silent after his obviously fake laughter – he was not a very good liar. His question did interest Mark and you to turn your heads from him to Sicheng, now in an anxious panic of trying to figure out something to say.

The three of you have yet to get to know Sicheng since it seems that only Yuta knew Sicheng well enough to get a present that really suits him.

“Hm.. I don’t know.. Anything!”

“Oh, come on.. There’s gotta be something you want!” Mark whined, tugging at Sicheng’s pants from the bleacher below.

“You guys really don’t have to get me anyth–“

“You know we will anyway! So it has to be something you want..” you were particularly insistent in getting Sicheng a present.

“Just get me a real nice cake~”

The three of you simultaneously gave him a thumbs-up to your agreed joint present for Sicheng. You still have yet to find something to get Yuta. After all, it feels like he’s been feeding you for your entire life with his dad making you breakfast almost every morning and him giving you part of his food during meals you had together. He was your best and closest friend among the three guys.

Unfortunately, you did not really have enough money to get him something spectacular as much as you wanted to. Finding an inexpensive gift for him seemed even harder than finding a gift for Sicheng.

“Have you gotten something for Yuta yet?”

“Oh yeah! Long ago… as soon as he said he mentioned he wanted– Wait! I’m not telling you~” Mark teased and of course he would’ve already gotten him a gift, and honestly was quite dumb of you to even ask. 

“How about you?” “I got him something nice when I went to the city last weekend with my mom and sister,” Jaehyun gave you a hearty eye-smile and a bright grin, remembering that short but sweet few days back visiting his hometown in Seoul. He brought you back a new Walkman with a mixtape he put together himself of songs as he said – reminded him of you.

“Sicheng?” “It’s something small but I made it myself!” He looked very proud and kicked his feet back and forth.

_Sucks,_ you thought. Now you felt like a bad friend. Yuta kicked the ball in frustration that Johnny’s so far blocked every one of the balls he’s kicked. The ball hit the goalpost and rolled towards you, knocking against your feet.

Yuta let out a violent roar and kicked up the dirt on the field until dust clouds surrounded his shoes.

_ Shoes… sneakers… _

You had an idea.


End file.
